Onward.
“Onward. We may only ever continue onward. We can look back,
but we cannot move in that direction.”
Now, there is an old Buddhist story about a monk. There is a river he must cross, for on the other side is a forest lush with life. The river is moving quickly, so he can’t simply swim across. So, he builds himself a raft. Once the raft has delivered him to the other side, he brings it with him. He has come to enjoy it and be proud of it. Over time, the forest becomes so thick that it’s troublesome to continue to bring the raft along with him. He must leave the raft behind, or perish.
The moral of the story? Sometimes, in life the thing that saves us one day, can lead to our demise the next. We must be prepared to let go of things, so that we may free ourselves of the things holding us back. This can be a personality you adopted in order to survive when you were younger. It can be a version of yourself that you once had to be in a previous role. It can be a love, a friend, the raft can take many forms.
I am a very loyal person, I find it hard to leave others behind. To forget about things I once cherished. I think it’s one of my flaws, and why I love photography so much. It’s a form of fighting the impermanence of the world. And I won’t get into it too much, but for me this has always been an important lesson.
On a separate note, I believe I have finally solidified my idea of what I want Child of God to truly be. Which is funny in and of itself, because I know I have to change the name of the project. Including God in the name is too controversial for the appeal that I would like the project to have.
I hope that your endeavors have been well, and that you have great plans for the holidays this year.
Thank you so much for reading.
As always,
Stay warm.
DC
